Ruby validation of name, email, and phone number - ruby

Question

After creating the loop to check that the phone number is 10 characters I believe the phone issue is now resolved. Now I'm working with checking the email address, name, and making sure it outputs correctly, and making sure 2 names are entered by the user. Having issues getting the email address to validate and output in the correct format.
NAME_PATTERN = /([\w\-\']{2,})([\s]+)([\w\-\']{2,})/
EMAIL_PATTERN = /\A([^#\s]+)#((?:[-a-z0-9]+\.)+[a-z]{2,})\Z/i
PHONE_PATTERN = /^(?:\+?1\s*(?:[.-]\s*)?)?(?:\(\s*([2-9]1[02-9]|[2-9][02-8]1|[2-9][02-8][02-9])\s*\)|([2-9]1[02-9]|[2-9][02-8]1|[2-9][02-8][02-9]))\s*(?:[.-]\s*)?([2-9]1[02-9]|[2-9][02-9]1|[2-9][02-9]{2})\s*(?:[.-]\s*)?([0-9]{4})$/
def valid_name?(name)
!!name.match(NAME_PATTERN)
end
puts "Enter your first and last name (John Doe): "
while (name=gets)
names = name.split(" ", 2)
if valid_name?(name)
puts "Great, that looks like it could work."
break
else
puts "Please enter first and last name."
end
end
def valid_email?(email)
!!email.match(EMAIL_PATTERN)
end
puts "Enter your email address (joe#info.com): "
while (email = gets)
if valid_email?(email)
puts "Great, that looks like it could work."
break
else
puts "Invalid email address entered. Please try again. "
end
end
def valid_phone?(number)
!!number.match(PHONE_PATTERN)
end
puts "Enter your phone number including area code (numbers only): "
while (number=gets)
if valid_phone?(number)
puts "Great, that looks like it could work."
break
else
puts "Invalid phone number entered. Please try again."
end
end
puts names
puts email
puts number

Answer 1

I suspect you didn't intend to use the assignment operator here:
if (email = /\A([^#\s]+)#((?:[-a-z0-9]+\.)+[a-z]{2,})\Z/i)
Try this:
if email =~ /\A([^#\s]+)#((?:[-a-z0-9]+\.)+[a-z]{2,})\Z/i
You have a similar error in the phone_number method:
if number = 10
I'm not sure what you intended here. Perhaps this?
if number.size == 10
You have more problems, however. Take a look at this loop:
loop do
if number.size == 10
break
else
puts "Invalid phone number entered. Please try again."
end
end
How will the user ever exit this loop if the number is invalid? The value of number never changes.

Answer 2

Here's a Ruby flavoured approach to what you're trying to do:
# Define constants for things that are special and get re-used.
EMAIL_PATTERN = /\A\S+#\S+\z/
# Methods that test something and return true or false often end with
# a question mark (?) to indicate this.
def valid_email?(email)
!!email.match(EMAIL_PATTERN)
end
# Try and keep your support methods separate from the main body of
# your program.
puts "Enter your email address (joe#info.com): "
# This sets up a loop that waits until you get a valid response.
while (email = gets)
email = gets
if valid_email?(email)
puts "Great, that looks like it could work"
break
else
# Note that the message is rendered here, not in the validation
# method, so there's no assumptions about how this method is used.
puts "Invalid email address entered. Please try again. "
end
end
If you try and structure your code this way you'll find it's a lot easier to keep things organized. This is one of the big challenges when learning programming so as not to get overwhelmed.
Regular expressions are great for validating things that conform to a very specific pattern, but try not to get overly confident in the pattern of everyday things. Even the humble IPv4 address comes in a multitude of forms.